Chapter 47: Chapter 44: Cardinal Edwell (Please Follow)
“Hell… Hell has descended!” “Great Lord, please save your believers…”
After the apocalyptic scene descended, the entire sea port town instantly plunged into chaos. The makeshift militia that had been organized were completely incapable of maintaining order, and figures could be seen running frantically in the streets and alleys.
The raging inferno that started at the docks only grew with the wind, threatening to envelop the entire town.
“Move the flammable objects away and create a sufficiently clear area! Where is the fire brigade? Everyone, get moving!” the acting captain of the guard, Tiris, shouted hoarsely, attempting to implent the isolation technique passed on by Lord Adrian to block the spreading flas.
Regrettably, the morale of the entire guard had almost collapsed; many dropped their weapons and ran crazily toward the outskirts of the town, completely ignoring his commands.
Seeing the surging flas drawing ever closer, Tiris felt utterly desperate.
Just then, a voice as loud as thunder bood in his ears.
“Praise Elara—Heaven Descends!”
At that mont, as if ti had stopped, the entire panic-stricken crowd of the chaotic port town ca to a halt, all simultaneously stopping in their tracks to look up into the night sky.
The dust cloud that had shrouded the town seed to be torn apart by so formidable force, and soon after, a dazzling white radiance descended from the heavens, covering every corner of the town.
Under this blanket of white light, everyone felt a renewed vigor infusing their weary bodies, and despair and fear in their hearts quickly dissipated.
A man whose leg had been crushed by a falling rock in the disaster discovered, to his amazent, that his leg had miraculously healed; his face imdiately lit up with fervent devotion.
The fire that had covered half the city, known as Hell’s Fire and the devil incarnate, was rapidly extinguished by such power, leaving no trace behind.
Soon after, that pure and unblemished white light slowly converged, forming a projection of a holy and noble goddess. She looked down upon all living beings, her eyes twinkling with stars, exuding mystery and majesty.
“Lord, you truly haven’t abandoned your most devout believers!”
“The devil… the devil is dead… Great Lord of the Stars, Elara, thank you for your salvation…”
“Lord, I wish to confess my sins…”
Countless residents of the port town fell to their knees, praying incessantly, expressing their gratitude for the grace of the Lord. Many fervently kissed the ground, demonstrating their devotion.
Among all present, Tiris was the only one who managed to maintain so semblance of reason.
After being bathed in the white light, his heart too surged with fervent devotion, yet he did not kneel imdiately; it was as if so miraculous force restrained him.
At so point, a middle-aged man dressed in a red and gold robe, wearing an iron mask, appeared beside him.
“Your Eminence!” Tiris imdiately recognized the man’s identity from his attire and greeted him with great respect.
“Where is Anluoke? How did the sea port town co to this state?” Edwell looked around at the townspeople devoutly praying on the ground and asked bluntly. “If I’m not mistaken, the witch hunting ceremony should start at noon tomorrow.”
Two days earlier, Holy City had received a call for help from Anluoke. The Archbishop of Nordland Territory, leading a company of elite guards in pursuit of several wizards, had almost been wiped out, and even the use of Divine Descent Technique couldn’t leave the adversary behind.
According to the protocols of the Judgent Court, a formal wizard, no matter how challenging, did not warrant his personal intervention. However, Anluoke specifically ntioned in his letter that the wizard was very young and was likely to beco a threat to the Church in the future.
More terrifying yet was the wizard’s ability to wield a very unique Hell’s Fire, which could, if it spread, burn down a town within a short period; and Anluoke had no way to counter it.
Taking this into account, to ensure absolute certainty, he decided to personally go to the sea port town. Along the way, sensing the fluctuations caused by an outburst of Divine Power, he left the priests who were accompanying him and rushed over alone at the fastest speed.
Regrettably, he was still one step too late.
“The situation is like this, Your Eminence, earlier tonight, two devil worshippers broke into Harbour Town and set fire to the granary…” Tiris recounted the events as succinctly as possible.
When Edwell heard that the Wizard responsible for destroying the harbour docks was the sa one being pursued by Anluoke, his expression imdiately turned grave.
A Great Wizard had been hiding his power, infiltrating the Nordland Territory in disguise; it didn’t take much to deduce that he was plotting so sort of insurrection against the Empire and the Church.
With this in mind, Edwell looked through the eyes of Divine’s Projection, across the ruins of the harbour docks and the vast sea, and saw the sail-powered warship disappearing into the fog.
Estimating the distance, Edwell quickly abandoned the thought of taking action; even using his strongest Divine Arts, he couldn’t pose a threat to a Great Wizard at such a great distance.
“You have done well this ti, at least sparing the Empire from greater losses.”
To Edwell, the revelation of a deeply concealed Great Wizard for the re price of half a Harbour Town seed a fortunate affair indeed.
Previously, he had considered Anluoke to be incompetent, being so embarrassingly outmaneuvered by a formal Wizard; Edwell was ready to strip him of his Archbishop status after this incident. But now, it seed to be a faultless defeat, Anluoke’s loss was solely because the enemy was overwhelmingly powerful.
Moreover, the casualties of Harbour Town were far lower than he anticipated. Edwell originally thought that such a disaster would cost at least half of the tens of thousands of townsfolk, but judging from the number of souls taken into the holy land, less than five thousand had died, including three thousand of the Black Armored Guard.
This was nothing short of a miracle…
“It was all per Lord Adrian’s commands,” Tiris said, showing no intention of taking credit, his face filled with indignant expressions. “However, Lord Adrian followed Archbishop Anluoke into the port, and now I’m afraid he must be…”
“What a pity!” Edwell remarked regretfully. To quell the chaos in Harbour Town within such a short span and quickly organize militia and guards to evacuate the townspeople—Adrian truly had been a rare commanding talent.
“Has Anluoke collected any intelligence on that Great Wizard over these days?” Edwell inquired once again.
Tiris hesitated, as these were not matters within his purview as the captain of the guard. Fortunately, at that mont, rck, the lord of Harbour Town, arrived. Upon learning of the Archbishop’s request, he promptly had soone fetch the intelligence that Anluoke had previously entrusted to him.
However, as Edwell perused the parchnt scroll, his expression quickly solidified.
Carl… the illegitimate child of Viscount Sidelan of the Empire, only seventeen this year, had disappeared six months ago, and the Wizard Coru they had apprehended had been to Sidelan Territory at around the sa ti.
It was conjectured that this Wizard nad Carl could be one of Coru’s apprentices.
“Which idiot gathered this intelligence?” Edwell snapped, highly dissatisfied.
This was complete nonsense. A formal Wizard’s apprentice of under half a year was capable of casting magic that destroyed half of Harbour Town?
The spies in Nordland Territory must have lost their minds…
The lord of Harbour Town trembled and did not dare to respond.
Edwell paid no further attention to rck but instead took out a golden book from his waist and flipped to the latest page. Using his finger as a pen, he inscribed new information onto it.
[Na: Carl (True na unconfird)
Extrely Dangerous (Great Wizard)
Cris: Murder of Archbishop Anluoke, annihilation of three thousand Black Armored Guard, destruction of half of Harbour Town!
Bounty: Cas Gold Coins… fifty thousand!]
(PS: The hierarchy of church personnel is based on a certain religion, roughly as follows [Priest—Bishop (Archbishop)—Cardinal (Cleric)—Saint (Judgent Chief and other high-ranking church officials)—Pope…])
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